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Bad Idea #61: A Weighty Decision
11 years ago
Bad Ideas explained: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/321008/ Includes index.
Balls in the Balance, so to speak.
Picture a balance type scale. The sort with two pans, each at the opposite end of a beam and a central indicator for showing when things are in perfect balance. Now let's make a few changes. First, it gets big. Very big. This is no desktop thing, but big timber (or steel beam?) thing that is clearly heavy duty. The top part isn't a mere indicator any more, either, but part of a brake of sorts. Cross-pieces (90 degrees to the 'balance' beam) keep it from moving left or right - for now. The weight pans also get moved inward just a bit. The very end of the beam has a new purpose.
Now to the interesting part. At each end of the balance beam is a fellow, bound, with his balls secured to a pedestal or bench... right under the very end of the industrial-sized balance beam. With nothing in the weight pans, the system is in perfect balance and both are, or would be, as safe (or as endangered) as each other. The stops keep things in this indeterminant state, at least until they are withdrawn.
And when do they get withdrawn? Why, at the end of the voting. Voting? Yes. The voters each have a weight (brick, rock, stone, who knows...) but only one each. They get to decide who gets his nuts cracked. Wanna crack his nuts? Add your voting weight to his pan. Wanna try to save one? Vote for the other. A fellow might withstand a few weights, so a tie is technically possible. What happens if there's a tie? Now that is an interesting question, isn't it?
Oh, sure, we could do it with paper ballots or punch cards, or whatever, but what fun is that? Meet the candidates! Watch them closely "monitor" the vote! Let them see and hear just how you feel! And when the voting is over, no need to count and recount and round the 'winner' up. Nope, just release the stops and get immediate results. If you need suspense, have the stops move away from the central piece slowly so the result is a slow build rather than an instant crush.
Did you remember to register to vote?
Balls in the Balance, so to speak.
Picture a balance type scale. The sort with two pans, each at the opposite end of a beam and a central indicator for showing when things are in perfect balance. Now let's make a few changes. First, it gets big. Very big. This is no desktop thing, but big timber (or steel beam?) thing that is clearly heavy duty. The top part isn't a mere indicator any more, either, but part of a brake of sorts. Cross-pieces (90 degrees to the 'balance' beam) keep it from moving left or right - for now. The weight pans also get moved inward just a bit. The very end of the beam has a new purpose.
Now to the interesting part. At each end of the balance beam is a fellow, bound, with his balls secured to a pedestal or bench... right under the very end of the industrial-sized balance beam. With nothing in the weight pans, the system is in perfect balance and both are, or would be, as safe (or as endangered) as each other. The stops keep things in this indeterminant state, at least until they are withdrawn.
And when do they get withdrawn? Why, at the end of the voting. Voting? Yes. The voters each have a weight (brick, rock, stone, who knows...) but only one each. They get to decide who gets his nuts cracked. Wanna crack his nuts? Add your voting weight to his pan. Wanna try to save one? Vote for the other. A fellow might withstand a few weights, so a tie is technically possible. What happens if there's a tie? Now that is an interesting question, isn't it?
Oh, sure, we could do it with paper ballots or punch cards, or whatever, but what fun is that? Meet the candidates! Watch them closely "monitor" the vote! Let them see and hear just how you feel! And when the voting is over, no need to count and recount and round the 'winner' up. Nope, just release the stops and get immediate results. If you need suspense, have the stops move away from the central piece slowly so the result is a slow build rather than an instant crush.
Did you remember to register to vote?
SueaNoi
~sueanoi
*AGGRESSIVELY REGISTER TO VOTE*
